Arizona State Made a Great Hire, but Doesn’t Deserve Dave Hakstol: Puck Drop Commentary

Years ago, I was interviewing a coach whom I respected when the subject of his/her time at Arizona State came up, and I said something that I immediately regretted as the person had little reason to trust me yet. It was essentially this: “Arizona State is one of those schools that I just don’t understand why it isn’t better in sports. It should be a destination place.”

Silence. I had stepped too far and knew it. For the rest of the interview the person was understandingly guarded, and quite frankly should have been. I learned from the mistake.

Fast forward to a conversation with someone who understands the sports dynamic in the desert and the person’s name came up. I mentioned my goof and his quick response was to answer my original question, “It’s the leadership.”

I no longer have any doubts that’s the case.

If you’ve been following the horrible situation with sophomore Matthew Mayich, the young man who remains in a coma in a Phoenix-area hospital, there’s no other conclusion to be made.

The 21-year-old defenseman transferred from Clarkson during the offseason and days later participated in a workout designed to toughen the hockey team up. The 80-minute, military-style outdoor conditioning session on the first day of classes was led by a former Green Beret, with the head coach and at least one assistant coach on hand.

Mayich collapsed from severe heat stroke. That was August 20. He’s been on life support just shy of two months.

What happened to Mayich is horrific, and everyone’s hearts should go out to him, his family, which is still hoping for a miracle, and the other players on the Sun Devils (a nickname that just doesn’t feel right given the circumstances).   

But how the school has handled the situation has been deplorable.

Many of Arizona State’s protocols about such a workout had clearly been ignored, but the school’s initial reaction was to conduct a feeble, in-house impotent review that came across like it was trying to quickly move on without addressing what had happened. If anything was done internally regarding the coaching staff, it has yet to come to light.

It took seven players sending a 26-page letter through a local attorney, detailing concerns to school officials — and they had to do it anonymously for fear of retaliation — along with calls from state lawmakers, the Mayich family, and general outcry for Arizona State to place the head coach on administrative leave before the team’s season opener three weeks ago. There were also demands for an independent investigation by the Arizona Board of Regents, but that hasn’t fully happened yet.

Instead, former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Scott Bales was hired to lead another review. They can call it what they want, but he’s been tasked with making recommendations on Arizona State’s policies and procedures, plus the athletic department’s use of consultants. It’s not an examination into what happened, why there was limited water access and the delayed medical response.

As someone who once moved to Phoenix from a different climate, I can tell you firsthand that the acclimation process is a very real thing and shouldn’t be overlooked. There’s more to it than the dry heat and it can take a while for the body to adjust. Mayich had been there just a few days and there have been reports that he was physically struggling with the change. He hailed from Canada and last played for a college that’s so far in upstate New York that Ottawa and Montreal were a lot closer than Syracuse or Albany.

Mayich obviously deserved better.

His family deserves better now.

His teammates do likewise moving forward.

It shouldn’t have taken sharp public pressure for Arizona State to act, and then when it sort of did it came across like it was doing everything possible to avoid accountability and responsibility. That’s not leadership, it’s the exact opposite.

This week, Arizona State finally said goodbye to Greg Powers and hired Dave Hakstol to be the second head coach in program history. The assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche had an incredible record at North Dakota, going 289–143–43 at his alma mater from the 2004-05 season through 2014-15. Under his direction, the then-Fighting Sioux made the NCAA Tournament all 11 times, including seven appearances in the Frozen Four.

He had the kind of success that when the Philadelphia Flyers hired him away, making him the first head coach to go directly from an NCAA program to the NHL since Bob Johnson in 1982, everyone else in the then-WCHA breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Friday night, Arizona State took to the ice at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass., to make its debut under Hakstol, which one can only hope is an important step in the healing process for the other players, who have been trying to deal with this impossible situation.

But the people running Arizona State don’t deserve to fall upward out of this mess.

Puck Drop: Saturday, October 17, 2026

• Arizona State jumped out to a three-goal lead en route to winning the first game of the Hakstol era with a 5-4 victory at Lowell. Five different players scored for the Sun Devils: DanielShlaine, London Hafele, Jack O'Brien, Jack Beck and Lukas Sawchyn. Statistically the game was about as even as could be, including 37-37 in shots, 36-36 in faceoffs won and the River Hawks had one more penalty 6-5.

• Michigan struck early with two first-period goa;sand never trailed to spoil Denver’s banner-raising in the Frozen Four rematch, 4-1. The turning point was in second period when No. 1 Denver had an edge in shots 11-1 but Wolverines goaltender Jack Ivankovic didn’t let the Pioneers get back in the game. Malcolm Spence had two goals, with Jayden Perron and Cole McKinney also scored for No 2 Michigan. Ivankovic finished with 27 saves and reached the 1,000 career milestone. Tyler Krivtsov took the loss as Denver’s 19-game unbeaten streak was snapped, including 15-straight wins that dated back to last season.

• On the same night that Michigan topped No. 1 Denver, former Wolverines center T.J. Hughes scored his first NHL goal with the Colorado Avalanche.

• Zam Plante had three assists and his brother Victor netted his first collegiate goal along with two assists as Minnesota Duluth rebounded from not getting a win at Augustana last weekend to trouncing Minnesota at home, 7-1. It as UMD's first seven-goal game against UM since the 1998-99 season, and it was the first time the Bulldogs defeated the Gophers by six goals since Feb. 11, 1983.

• Adrianna Milani scored off a turnover just 14 seconds into the game, the lead doubled at 3:49 on a goal by Madison Kaiser, and Chloe Primerano netted another timely score with five ticks left in the first period as No. 3 Minnesota jumped out to a three-goal lead en route to a 6-2 home win over No. 1 Ohio State at Ridder Area. “The atmosphere was awesome, Ridder was rocking and I just loved our compete level today,” first-year head coach Greg "Boom" May said in a release. “We had times where we had to dig our heels in, survive shifts, and we just showed a lot of resilience. Overall, extremely proud of our group today." The Gophers had a 37-28 edge in shots in goal.

Hockey Quote of the Day

[On growing up in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan] "One night in March 1980 my mother was at home in bed and the back wall went boom. It just fell into the yard. Looking at the back was like looking into a dollhouse."

Joe Mullen (Boston College)

We'll Leave You With This ...

— The views expressed in Christopher Walsh’s opinion part of Puck Drop are his own and do not necessarily reflect ON SI, Sports Illustrated or digital partner Minute.   

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